Jesus Meets His First Disciples - Part 5

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Jesus Meets His First Disciples - Part 5

 

(p.190) It is good to discriminate between the so-called teacher--who uses

religion as a livelihood or to make money, or to gain fame and following--and

the genuine teacher, who uses his religion (and principled business methods in

religion) solely to serve his brethren with real spirituality. Discretion and

caution are particularly necessary in accepting a guru, one to whom explicit

loyalty and trust are given.

 

One may have many teachers in the beginning of his search, but when one's heart

and soul are confidently settled in a guru-disciple relationship ordained and

blessed by God, the disciple has only one guru, and no other teachers

thereafter. The devotee remains loyal to such a guru, being spiritually

fulfilled by the God-sent messenger. To forsake the guru and his ideals is to

spurn the help sent by God, the One Guru of gurus: " the Lord God of the holy

prophets " ; [1] He whom alone " seers great, and heaven's-path successful ones, "

do worship. [2]

 

Unconditional love,

loyalty, and obedience

are the hallmarks of

the guru-disciple

relationship

 

The spiritual soul contact between guru and disciple is one of eternal,

unconditional divine love and friendship, bearing no taint of any selfish

consideration. Human love is conditional and based upon merit and inborn

attachments. Unconditional divine love is the Christ-love with which God

embraces all His children, high or low, naughty or good, under all

circumstances. Only a master, one who has cast off his ego with its biases and

selfish expectations, is capable of serving as a perfect channel through which

God's divine love may flow without measure.

 

In the spiritually receptive, loyalty to the guru rises spontaneously when the

disciple's heart is bathed in the aura of the guru's unconditional love. The

soul knows that it has found at last a true friend, counselor, and guide. The

disciple strives therefore to reciprocate the guru's unconditional love,

especially when tested, even as the faith and loyalty of Jesus' disciples were

often tried with nonunderstanding. (p.191) Many were with Jesus at the feasts

and sermons, but how few at the cross! Yet from among loyal followers, advanced

disciples greatly help the master in ways common and unique. Even a Christ could

scarce fulfill his mission without those who are steadfast and in tune with him.

 

Jesus knew the secret law of emancipation inherent in the guru-disciple

relationship, and its pact of mutual help, as God began to send to him those

disciples destined to help him and to find liberation through his

instrumentality.

 

In Andrew, Jesus found the receptivity to intuit the presence of the Christ

Consciousness in the bodily vehicle of the Master. In John the beloved, Jesus

saw the devotion that would hold this disciple steadfast and take him deep into

the experience of the yogic science of God-union that he would later record in

the Book of Revelation. In Simon Peter, Jesus discerned a divine strength on

which to build the early foundation of his teachings, and predicted that the

spiritual life of Simon would be as firm as a stone (Hebrew: 'cephas'; Greek:

Peter, " a rock " ). [3]

 

In meeting Philip, Jesus, remembering their previous guru-disciple relationship,

said to him without hesitation, " Follow me. " By this command, Jesus exercised

his spiritual responsibility as preceptor to his disciple Philip. He indicated

that Philip should tune his instinct-guided reason and will power with the

higher wisdom-guided reason and will of Jesus, the way by which Philip could

free himself from mortal delusion and overcome the common compelling temptations

and attachments of the flesh.

 

The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

You) Volume 1, Discourse 8, pg. 190-191

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7

 

Notes:

 

[1] Revelation 22:6.

 

[2] 'God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita' XI:21.

 

[3] " To the Jews of Palestine, this special sign of giving someone a new

name--as in Genesis God had changed the name 'Abram' to Abraham and 'Jacob' to

Israel - indicated that the person was chosen for a divine mission. Once again,

Jesus harked back to Old Testament tradition even as he inaugurated his

revolutionary movement of spiritual renewal. " - from 'Jesus and His Times',

Kaari Ward, ed. (Pleasantville, New York: Reader's Digest Association, 1987).

('Publisher's Note')